Lizzie Borden Society Forum

The things you notice when you re-read...

Apparently Bridget's headache on August 4 was not anything unusual. I had always thought of it as maybe being tied in with Abby & Andrew's illness that started on August 2. But she testifies about it at the Preliminary Hearing:

Q: When were you taken sick?
A: I felt kind of sick that morning when I was getting up; I did not notice it, because I was always having headaches.

From 'The Preliminary Hearing', page 187, by Harry Widdows, Stefani Koorey, Ph.D. and Kat Koorey, c 2005, PearTree Press, Orlando, FL. Old page 66

I wonder what caused her headaches? If the headache did not necessarily play a part in her throwing up that morning, what did cause it?

Good pick up!
There could be many possiblities - lack of sleep, dehydration, bad diet, something environmental (allergies perhaps), perhaps she suffered migraines? my mum has always had headaches and recently dr's put it down to low blood pressure (which seems a bit really? to me)
Perhaps working for the Bordens was just stressful!

But she says she notices she was sick because she always had headaches - does this imply she was particularly sick that morning and it struck her as strange? perhaps im just being overly picky with the sentence.


Does anyone know whether Bridget's health comes up again - or anyone elses health for that matter? I'd be interested in seeing the health of the household leading up to the murders (if that makes sense)

I'd have a chronic headache, too, if I lived in such a household.

Could Jennings's influence have come to bear this early (as it certainly did at trial, re testimony of key witnesses), in that he advised Bridget not to give the impression that her headache was tied to Abby's and Andrew's malaise, so that the supposition of Lizzie having poisoned everyone in the household-- except herself-- would be diminished?

I never heard of Jennings telling Bridget that, DJ. Can you tell us where you found that? I believe you, but I'm very curious about this, what is new to me.

That absolutely could have caused Bridget to testify to that, in my opinion. But Bridget seemed to be more of a prosecution witness than a defense one.

Bridget says she did not notice her headache that morning because she was always having headaches. Maybe I'm not understanding your post, Sarah Jay.

The first thing I thought of was allergies, as you did, SJ. I have joked about it before, but maybe she, uh, you know ... I don't think the heat up in her attic room helped her any. I don't see how she was able to take a nap in that heat, and probably with a corset on to boot.

If you look at the autopsy reports of Andrew and Abby, Andrew was in good health. He did wear a truss, tho. But if anybody was waiting for him to die, I think they'd be in for a long wait. Abby had a female cyst. Emma died at about age 76 from kidneys and had dementia. Lizzie, though, may not have been in great health. She never recovered really from that gall bladder surgery the year before she died. I think she was 67 when she died. I got nothin' on Bridget's health, other than if she is the one thought to have been in Anaconda, Montana then she died well into her 80's.

Augusta,

My statement is speculative, posed as a question-- we know witnesses were coached (a common practice, then as now) for the trial, but that was a half-year later.

I am speculating whether Jennings "advised" Bridget as early as the Preliminary Hearing.

We don't have her Inquest testimony to compare-- whether she made mention of these recurring headaches then or not.

I've always considered Bridget a friendly witness-- that is, that she could have really lifted a veil on the Borden household that would not have helped Lizzie's cause. That was her ace in the hole, why Lizzie dared not accuse her.

In various accounts, I've read that Knowlton really tried to "break" Bridget during Inquest questioning, that he believed she was either complicit or withholding information.

If so, then it's not surprising that Bridget chose to be more an asset to the defense team rather than the prosecutorial side.

If we wanna be really cynical, we might believe that Bridget knew where the money was going, and there might be something in it for her if things went well for Lizzie.

In any event. it would not be surprising if Bridget had sought out advice from Lizzie's attorney, for the P.H., following her apparent reaming during the Inquest.

It does seem as if Bridget was holding info back. If Lizzie was saying bad stuff about Abby to the dressmaker, to Anna Borden coming back from Europe, and probably others then Bridget heard a lot. If we believe Nellie McHenry's interview with Bridget, Bridget wanted to leave - things were so bad between Abby and the 'girls' but stayed out of her feeling sorry for Abby. If we knew where she went after the trial ... I could swear when I was a kid I read that Bridget married one of the cops from Fall River. It seems not to be true, tho, otherwise we would be reading about it also today. Maybe Bridget's inquest is in Gov. Robinson's old law firm. I went thru the Providence Journal at the FR library, praying it might be in the paper, but no.

Sorry. Double post.